2 So, where is this rise coming from?

A closer look at countries, however, offers a better idea of where cases are rising. Nearly a fifth of all infections across the world in the past week can be traced to just one country – the United States, which for the first time in nearly 90 days again reported an average of more than 100,000 daily cases in the past week. In fact, in just the past 10 days, the case curve in the US has increased more than 40%, making it one of the fastest expanding outbreaks among major nations.

The country that has seen the second-highest infections in the world is Taiwan, which has reported 67,955 daily cases on average in the past week, data shows. What is alarming about the numbers from Taiwan, however, is the pace at which cases are growing – the case curve was just 19,373 infections a day just 10 days ago, capping a whopping 250% increase.

It is followed by Germany, which has reported 50,905 new cases every day in the past week. Data from Germany, however, shows that the country is currently experiencing a strong post-omicron contraction. This is why the case curve has contracted by 27% in the past 10 days. In the fourth and fifth spot are Australia and Japan, which have reported 52,054 and 36,568 daily cases on average in the past week respectively. Cases have risen 24% and 28% in these two countries in the past 10 days, data shows.

A notable emission from this list is North Korea, which has only recently confirmed it is experiencing a massive Covid-19 outbreak for the first time in two years – having reported close to 2 million cases just the past week, according to the local press. Due to the extreme opacity in the data emanating from the isolationist nation, it has been excluded from global calculations.